Patient Stories
Plagued
“I didn’t know that I had OCD in the beginning. My symptoms weren’t the type that you hear about in the movies.”
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Flunked Out
“Sophomore year was challenging for me: I was put on academic probation, but I couldn’t face telling my parents, so they didn’t find out until they received a letter in May stating I wasn’t invited back.”
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Scared
“Things got really scary during my senior year of high school after I was accepted at college. At first I was happy, but then started to feel sick.”
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Lonely
“OCD-type anxiety is a very lonely illness. Your mind turns in on itself, endlessly deliberating over every thought and task you encounter.”
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Fired
“I’m 23 and living at my mom’s house because I can’t hold down a job. I got hired right out of college, but then my anxiety flared up and I constantly thought about being infected with germs.”
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Perfectionist
“Throughout my childhood I was a passionate overachiever. From a very young age I struggled with being a perfectionist, as well as with anxiety and depression, but they were not major factors in my day-to-day life.”
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Struggling
“I was an honors student back in high school, and my college prospects were promising. But now, six years later, I’m still struggling to finish community college.”
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Speechless
“I am 24 years old and just finished my master’s degree in health-care administration. I am doing well now, but I have had a lifelong struggle with anxiety that at times made me wonder whether I would ever make it.”
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Procrastinator
“Anxiety is more often than not self-inflicted. I procrastinated in writing this piece until the last minute, regardless of the fact that I couldn’t wait to write it.”
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Lost
“While on the outside others might think that I’m doing pretty well for myself, inside I feel like I can’t do anything right and will never be good enough.”
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Worried
“I'm a worrier. When I was a kid I used to have a hard time being away from my parents and I'd think about all the horrible things that might happen to them.”
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Obsessive
“All girls worry about what other people think of them, so for a long time I didn’t know my thoughts were any different from anyone else’s.”
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